1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of managing a group of dairy animals as well as a milking arrangement therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In voluntary milking systems, it sometimes happens that an animal does not go to the automatic milking system by itself within its planned milking interval. This could be for various reasons, such as lameness or other difficulty walking, having strayed very far from the system when grazing, or simply not feeling like being milked because of e.g. painful teats. However, prolonged milking intervals may lead to a reduced milk production, as too much milk in the udder may lead to resorption of milk and suppression of milk secretion. Therefore, such prolonged milking intervals are undesirable. Therefore, the dairy farmer will try to prevent such prolonged milking intervals, in particular by collecting the delayed animals and ensuring that they are milked in the system. Thereto, he will put together a list of animals to be fetched, and fetch those animals, most often twice a day.
This fetching and controlled milking means a lot of work for the dairy farmer. Thus, it is desirable, and an object of the present invention, to provide a method of managing the group of animals such that prolonged milking intervals are avoided on average, thus ensuring an enduring and high milk production, but with a minimum of labor for the dairy farmer.